Recent interpretations of material evidence by archaeologists - Carignan (1977),
Devereux (1965-6) and Tuck (1980) and especially Laurie McLean (1989-99) - indicate
that the inner reaches of Bonavista Bay were occupied by Aboriginal cultures dating
back some 5000 years. These cultural groups included sequentially the prehistoric
peoples known as The Maritime Archaic, Paleo-Eskimo (Groswater and Dorset) and the
probable ancestors of the Beothuk (Beaches and Little Passage traditions). In
contrast to early Europeans who arrived by sea and occupied the outer headlands and
islands to exploit cod, the Aboriginal groups entered from the landward side or
along the coast and ranged primarily around the inner parts of the bay. Maritime
Archaic Indians, named for their preoccupation in exploiting marine resources
(seals, shellfish and birds) from coastal sites, appear to have been the earliest
inhabitants of Newfoundland. A campsite, or village, at the Beaches on Bloody
Reach, also known as the Cowpath, near Burnside, was occupied by the Maritime
Archaic about 5000 years ago and by their successors, including the historic
Beothuk, up to about 250 years ago. The Beaches has yielded artifacts from all the
major cultures and traditions known to have lived in Newfoundland up to the time of
European contact. It is thus one of the most significant archaeological sites in
the province.

While research in Bonavista Bay has been focused mainly at the Beaches and at
nearby Bloody Bay Cove (where Aboriginal peoples quarried rhyolite, a volcanic
rock, useful in making sharp tools), additional surveys have identified numerous
sites used by Aboriginal cultures in the surrounding area. Many of these are
Beothuk including those at Sandy Cove, Sailors Island and Long Island. Salvage
itself is a place name evidently coined from the Spanish word "Salvaje", meaning
wild, savage or untamed.

Bloody Bay is a name believed by some to derive from
violent confrontations between Beothuk and Europeans, probably early 18th century
salmoniers and furriers. The various evidence suggests that Beothuk ranged around
the shoreline of the inner bay harvesting a variety of estuarine, coastal and
marine resources well into the 18th century. There is also some indication that
early European fishermen tended to avoid them, at least earlier on. Sir Richard
Whitbourne observed in 1579, for example, that English fishing ships did not go
into Bonavista Bay (then known as the Bay of Flowers) partly because of the
dangerous and uncharted waters "but chiefly (as I conjecture) because the Savage
people of that Country doe there inhabit".